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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27672068">something golden</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/melon_official/pseuds/melon_official'>melon_official</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Splatoon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Deepsea Metro, Established Relationship, F/F, Golden Toothpick, Inner Agent 3, Other, Post-Octo Expansion DLC, yknow what i think this counts as</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:42:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,940</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27672068</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/melon_official/pseuds/melon_official</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Though parted by the ocean deep,<br/>My oldest friend, we meet again.<br/>I touch your face; you rouse from sleep."</p>
<p>eight navigates a barrage of memories concealed within an elegant golden hairpin, and learns that it's okay to leave some mysteries unsolved.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Agent 3/Agent 8 (Splatoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>something golden</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>ty to my beta readers! ily<br/>if u wanna know more about these cephalopods catch me on tumblr (melon-official)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Amaryllis inked a narrow path to her right and avoided the splashdowns as they landed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>One, two, three. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She paid no mind to the sound of a launching autobomb and ducked around a nearby obstacle before her assailant could figure out where she was. Agent Three fired a panicky round at the sudden movement and ran in the opposite direction, but for the first time, Amy was faster.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sound of the Octo Shot rang in her ears as the figure in front of her was blown backward, defeated at last.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amy opened her eyes and let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding, letting the familiar environment of Central Station come into focus around her. No more incomplete missions. No more meditating in front of a dusty locker. She was finally content to leave that stressful fight in the past where it belonged. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All that was left of value in the locker was a hairpin, somehow untarnished from its time in the Metro. The subtly raised flake decorations caught the dim glow of the overhead lights. Amy had been saving the item as a sort of reward for “beating her inner enemy”, so to speak; and no one had come to claim it in the weeks she’d spent in and out of the station, so she supposed it would be alright if she took it with her. Still reveling in the glow of her victory, she stretched out a hand to scoop up the pin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The moment her fingers closed around it, something stirred in the back of her mind. She paused-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>The alarm by the bed rings out to the tune of Turquoise October’s new hit single, Shooting Starfish. Grimacing, Amy(?) reaches out a tired arm to slap at the offending device until it shuts off, and nestles herself back under the covers.</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>Next to her, a sleep-heavy voice hums the next few notes to the melody. A familiar face yawns and rubs her eyes with the motivation of a stubborn child. “Do we really have to get up?”</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>“Mmgh,” Amy mumbles from her blanket nest. She has an early shift today, and it starts in just a couple of hours. In this moment, though, she might be willing to neglect her post and get a talking-to from her commander, even if it meant spending a couple more minutes with-</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The clatter of the pin hitting the floor echoed across Central Station as Amy’s hand dropped to her side in shock.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had only experienced this kind of recollection before when she received a mem cake, but never had the cakes provided such immersive detail. The scene of her old apartment bedroom was painted in hypercolor across her mind, and she could almost feel the artificial sunlight across her face as her mind raced to catch up with the present day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amy reached a tentative hand toward the toothpick, and picked it up in relief when it didn’t spark another memory. Enough of the Metro for today. She was going home. The doors of the train hissed open, welcoming her as she activated the CQ-80 to chart a route closest to the surface. Later. She would think about the memory later…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...Who </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> that girl?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-= C:彡 =-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh my god, you made dinner. I love you.” Amy locked the front door to the apartment behind her, making a beeline for the kitchen and her girlfriend. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lily laughed and turned away from the stovetop enough to catch the returning agent in a one-armed hug, receiving a quick peck on the cheek in return. “Ah, it’s nothing. We had a bunch of vegetables that were gonna go bad if I didn’t cook something with them.” Glancing up from their stir-fry and across Amy’s exhausted figure, Lily’s expression fell, and they turned the burner off. “Had a rough time down there, huh? Which station got you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amy ran her thumb over the toothpick’s indents. “It’s less about a station,” she explained, careful not to mention the reason she was at the Metro in the first place, “and more about this pin I found.” She presented the toothpick to Lily, who turned it over in their hand gently, held it to the light, and handed it back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s pretty fresh, but it doesn’t look like it’s been touched in years. What’s special about it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It resurfaced another memory. Way more vivid this time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lily’s eyes widened.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What was it about? Here, you sit, I’ll get you some food. It can’t have been pretty if you’re so worried about it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amy took a seat at the table by the kitchen as her girlfriend returned with two plates of stir-fry and set one at her place, dropping into the chair opposite her with their own meal. Her voice wavered as she recounted the details of the scene. By the end of her account, her plate was barely touched as she stared at the grain of the table, worlds away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you get a name? Maybe we can try to contact her,” Lily began, reaching out a hand. Amy held onto it gratefully, but sighed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing. It was almost as if the name was missing- like my brain didn’t have it, even though everything else was so clear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think we were dating, but she feels like such an important person to me. It makes no sense. Why did none of the other mem cakes mention her?” Amy’s expression darkened as she replayed the scene over and over in her head. The more she tried to decipher it, the more it confused her. This long-gone octoling was going to become another mystery she had no hope of solving.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With a start, she realized she’d been staring off into space for the past minute, and released Lily’s hand from the vice grip she didn’t remember holding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can already see you overthinking this,” they said, standing up to clear the dishes, “but I promise you don’t have to figure everything out right now. No harm in getting some sleep and waiting until tomorrow to analyze Mystery Girl.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As much as Amy wanted to disagree, she couldn’t deny the truth; it was getting late, and getting lost in the memory wasn’t going to do her any more good- a complete collection of mem cakes had taught her that much. She followed Lily into the kitchen, resting her head against their shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The pin clanked softly against the keys in her pocket.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-= C:彡 =-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Amy tucked the toothpick into her hair and checked her reflection the next morning, a familiar voice echoed in her head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>“</b>
  <b>
    <em>I think I’m going to see what it’s all about,</em>
  </b>
  <b>” </b>
  <b>
    <em>she explains, reaching up to fix her hair for the third time in five minutes. “I was getting kind of bored here, if I’m being honest.”</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>“Aw, you’d get bored of me that easily?” Amy pouts, feigning sadness, slipping her arm around her companion’s. </em>
  </b>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>“No, not of you, never! Oh, you’re joking.” The octoling’s expression returns to normal, and she tugs Amy toward the front door. “The military just isn’t all that exciting anymore, I guess. Now come on, the concert starts in twenty minutes and we’re gonna be late!”</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The conversation abruptly stopped as Amy’s eyes refocused on the bathroom mirror. Amidst all the mental acrobatics her brain was dragging her through, one detail stood out to her- her friend was wearing the golden pin. It had belonged to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amy made up her mind then and there that if she ever saw this person again, she’d give the toothpick back in a heartbeat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To her surprise, that recollection wasn’t the last.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bit by bit, long-gone memories made themselves known, until one afternoon a week later when the pin decided it had no more knowledge left to give. The last tidbit of Amy’s past rang in her head with a sense of finality. As she jotted down the conversation in one of her many notebooks, she knew.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Not one of the recovered fragments had mentioned a name, and in hindsight, Amy understood- Octarian citizens didn’t get names, unless they were a famous enough stage persona, or an irreplaceable member of society. Most never bothered to look for one. She wouldn’t be able to recognize anyone from her past by name, just as they wouldn’t for her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe you can trace your steps back to where you found the thing.” Lily peered over Amy’s shoulder at the notebooks and papers scattered across the table.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The octoling shook her head. “It was sitting just outside the station platform, in one of those little cubbies. There weren’t any clues.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just outside-” Lily paused, as if deciding what to say next, and continued with measured words- “And you didn’t pick it up before then? What kept you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“..It’s complicated.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The longest ten seconds of Amy’s life ticked by before Lily spoke again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. But if something’s really bothering you, you know I won’t value you less or anything silly like that if you wanna talk about it…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know.” Amy glanced down, desperate for a change in subject. “I don’t think I learned anything new after reading over my notes, but thank you so much for being here anyway. I really appreciate it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Any time, love. OK, I’m gonna go shower, unless you want help putting all this away?” At the shake of Amy’s head, Lily left the room contentedly- at least, Amy hoped they were content. It seemed like they could tell she was hiding the whole story.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amy couldn’t stop her thoughts from wandering as she began to clear her library of notes off the table. She wanted so badly to explain, to push the stubborn gate of her resistance wide open and reveal every detail of her inner fight. No matter how she tried to ignore it, the splashes of blue and orange and the sound of the Calamari Inkantation were still as fresh in her mind as on the day of her victory.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But how was she supposed to explain to the love of her life that she’d been fighting a long-lost version of them in her head for three weeks?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-= C:彡 =-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Afternoon sunlight lit up the stone streets as crowds of shoppers wandered around Arowana Mall. A pair of agents window-shopped while they walked, hand in hand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, I think that’s the place where Sunny gets a lot of his baseball caps!” Lily gestured to a storefront filled with hat stands. “I was thinking of buying something from there, but Cooler Heads is closer to home and it’s a little cheaper.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amy turned, confused, as they slowed to a stop in front of the window. “Cooler Heads?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah, shit. That’s the name of the store in Inkopolis Plaza. I meant Headspace,” Lily explained. “I wonder how Cooler Heads is doing now that most battles run out of Deca Tower. Maybe I should look into ordering from them.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With their curiosity satisfied, the pair began to walk farther down the street, and Amy glanced one more time through the window of the hat shop. Someone inside stared back at her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Two storefronts later, Amy stopped dead in her tracks. She knew that face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait-” Lily turned her way, head tilting to the side, but Amy was already running in the opposite direction. If that was really who she thought it was, then she couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amy crashed through the front door of the hat shop with an alarming jingle, scanning the inhabitants, but it was too late- whoever she saw a moment ago must have already left. Her hope fell, and she mumbled an uncomfortable apology to the rattled patrons staring at her. She opened the door and walked out of the shop, smacking right into her girlfriend walking in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lily stumbled back, disconcerted, but waved away Amy’s panicky “sorry”s with a smile. The two began their walk back down the street. “So what was that all about?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The mystery girl. I saw her.” Amy stared at the next store window without really looking. “I thought that if I could meet her again, she might recognize me too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lily looked away- was it just her imagination, or did their pace slow down? “I’m gonna guess she wasn’t there when you looked.” Amy shook her head, and they said nothing else. The afternoon air felt a little colder as the pair walked in silence for a while.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If she could only figure out who the octoling from her memories was, then everything would fall into place. She just knew it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-= C:彡 =-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They had planned a movie night that evening, but twenty minutes into the film, it was clear that neither of them were paying much attention. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amy’s mind wandered, the details of the movie fading into background noise. Had she even really seen the girl from her memories, or was it her brain jumping to the first possible conclusion? Maybe they lived miles apart. What would she even say if she saw the girl again? She didn’t know enough about her past, not nearly enough to hold a conversation about it-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her inner turmoil was cut short with the sound of the television as Lily hit the pause button. She blinked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The inkling set the remote back down on the coffee table. “You’re in a whole different world right now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lily shifted their position on the couch, turning to face Amy a little more. “Is this about the pin? You’ve been a little different ever since you came back with that thing. Not that that’s bad!” they backtracked in a hurry. “I know whatever happened down there is super important to you. But you’re worrying me a little bit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was quite clear from their expression that they were more than a </span>
  <em>
    <span>little</span>
  </em>
  <span> worried. Years of stress-relief practice had not prepared Amy for the rush of emotion hitting her like a truck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>For the first time in her life, she couldn’t see a solution to her problem.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-” she brought a hand to her face, only to find tears there. “I CAN’T!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lily stiffened, her expression twisting into concern, but Amy was too far gone to notice. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>'←▶➫↗↓↔→   ⊼⇇⇉∧, </span>
  </em>
  <span>i want to, SO BAD, but it would ruin </span>
  <em>
    <span>SO MUCH.</span>
  </em>
  <span> I was- I was </span>
  <em>
    <span>fighting someone</span>
  </em>
  <span> at the station. I-it was such a big deal, and I had to overcome it, it took me </span>
  <em>
    <span>weeks</span>
  </em>
  <span>-” She couldn’t stop talking, not even amidst her wavering voice, and Lily’s worried repetitions of her name. “It was worse than all the mem cakes combined, all the stations, and I can’t, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I can’t say it, Lil, you’d lose your mind over it,”</span>
  </em>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Whoa, whoa. Ames, come here.” She fell into the comfort of the inkling’s embrace, shaking with quiet sobs. Lily ran one hand through her hair and held her close with the other, bringing her some stability in the chaos of her crumbling thoughts. “Nothing you could </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever</span>
  </em>
  <span> say would make me think less of you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Amy leaned closer, holding tightly to the front of Lily’s shirt, her voice barely audible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Even if it was you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She could feel the hand on her back fall away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her reply was muffled by the fabric as she spoke, shoulders hunched as if the slightest movement would cause the world to fall apart. “The memory I’ve been trying to stomach for weeks. The enemy I defeated. It was you, in our battle before the Metro.” She could hear Lily’s breathing pause. “You couldn’t have been more than sixteen, seventeen. I had gone far out of the domes, I think, and you found me at a station- one that connected to Kamabo.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You defeated me effortlessly, without so much as a word, Lil. I think it was all you knew. I doubt you even remember it. That’s why I insisted on going to the Metro alone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lily hesitated, and brought a shaky hand up to hold Amy closer. “I had no idea.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I know,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Amy snapped without thinking, and Lily winced. “..Sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They didn’t let go, though, and their response shocked Amy out of her spiraling train of thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you for telling me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She lifted her face from her girlfriend’s shirt. “Wait, you’re not mad?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How could I be?” Lily offered a smile, small but genuine. “I was a little asshole when I got recruited. Thought I knew everything! I don’t blame you in the slightest.” Amy giggled in relief, breaking the tension in the air. Lily repositioned themself on the couch so they could look Amy in the eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know, there’s something you told me the first night we all got back from fighting Tartar. </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘It’s an ordeal both of us will have to recover from’</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I think about it a lot,” they explained, and Amy could feel another wave of emotion on the way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“All of us have different experiences that we have to come to terms with, from every challenge in our lives. But when we do that, it gives us room to grow. You know what I mean?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In that moment, Amy realized. Her obsession with the mystery girl hadn’t been driven by her memories at all. That day at Central Station wasn’t the last chapter of her struggle with the past; only here, in the safety of her living room, had she spoken freely about it for the first time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tucked her head into the crook of Lily’s neck and sighed, feeling the last remnants of tension leave her. “Yeah. I think I can grow a little now.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>used <a href="https://lingojam.com/WINGDINGS3TRANSLATOR-">this encoder</a> because i wanted to make amy swear in octarian btw<br/>ahh uhhhhh leave a comment if u enjoyed :] i think this is the longest fic on my account</p></blockquote></div></div>
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